TULSA, Okla. - IUPUI's Big Dance dreams were dashed by the crushing reality of an upset loss to a surging team, reminiscent of itself over the past few years in the Mid-Con Tournament. Sixth-seeded Chicago State upset the Jags, 57-53 in the conference tournament semifinals, setting the stage for a showdown with top-seeded Oral Roberts University in Tuesday night's championship game in Tulsa.
"It's an understatement to say we're disappointed," IUPUI head coach Ron Hunter said. "We give credit to CSU. We ended up being 19-10, but we kind of hit the wall there at the end. I'm very proud of my kids."
Playing from behind for virtually the entire game, IUPUI tied the game in the last minute at 53-53 on a Brandon Cole (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis) three pointer from the left wing with 48.1 seconds left - just the team's third triple of the game. But it was David Holston's three-point basket for Chicago State with 16.8 seconds remaining that proved to be the dagger. After a full timeout, CSU guard Royce Parran drove the lane before kicking out a pass to the right wing, spotting Holston for the wide open trey.
On the ensuing possession, Matt Burks (Dubuque, Iowa/Wahlert) three point attempt from the right baseline corner harmlessly banked off the rim, securing the victory for Chicago State.
George Hill (Indianapolis, Ind./Broad Ripple) and Cole scored 17 apiece to lead the Jags. Unfortunately, Hill had an off night from the line, shooting just 5-11 free throws, but grabbed 12 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season.
As a team, the Jags shot just 33.9 percent from the field and never seemed to get into an offensive rhythm.
"Our deficiencies showed up in the end," Hunter said. "We don't have the size I would like to have. When you get in the tournament you need the size inside to score baskets, so we've got to get a little bit better at that."
IUPUI and Chicago State were virtually identical in the major statistical outcomes in the box score, but the Jags were never in control of the game. The difference was second half free throw shooting. Chicago State went 19-of-21 from the stripe in the second half, while the Jags sputtered, hitting only 8-of-15 free throw attempts.
The Jags entered play as the Mid-Con's best free throw shooting team, hitting nearly 75 percent as a team for the season.
Parran went a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line, en route to a 14-point performance to lead the Cougars in scoring. Michael Henderson and Holston added 11 points apiece.
For the second consecutive season, IUPUI felt defeat in the semifinals round of the Mid-Con Tournament. Its magical season came to a stumbling halt over the last week of the season, which carried over into the postseason. The Jags went 13-3 in league play, claiming the program's first-ever Mid-Continent Conference crown, but dropped three of its final four games of the season.
Like the 2004 season, IUPUI will wait by the phones on Sunday night to see if the postseason comes calling. Two years ago, despite a 21-11 overall record, that call never came.
"We had a great year. I still think that our program has warranted the NIT," Hunter said. "We're conference champs and I would hope the NIT would look favorably on that."
